Advanced Television

Google’s Loon to supply broadband over East Africa

September 6, 2018

By Chris Forrester

Project Loon, the Google-backed high-flying balloon, is in discussions with the governments of Kenya and Uganda to supply WiFi connectivity over the countries.

The Loon concept, now a stand-alone business, uses balloons which fly in the stratosphere and which beam 4G LTE signals in order to bring internet services to people in extremely remote locations.

Local news media, according to Business Insider, say that a deal has been struck with Ugandan authorities and telecom officials. A statement from a Loon spokesman, Scott Coriell, confirms that a team was in Uganda.

Reuters says that a similar agreement has been confirmed in Kenya. Joe Mucheru, Kenya’s Information, Communication and Technology minister, told Reuters that Loon’s representatives were “holding talks” with local telecom operators on the deployment of Loon’s balloons.  “The Loon team are still working out contracts,” Mucheru told Reuters. “Hopefully, once that is done, we can be able to see almost every part of the country covered.”

Categories: Articles, Broadband